A woman holding her young malnourished baby queues for food at the Badbado refugee camp, in Mogadishu, Somalia (photo on Flickr by United Nations/Stuart Price). The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) and the Food Security and Analysis Unit (FSNAU) report that in Somalia, in addition to the five areas where famine has already been … Continue reading
Category Archives: Drought
Drought / East Africa / Food Security / USA / Vulnerability
Horn of Africa drought: Short-term ‘Band-Aid’ thinking not enough–CGIAR
The CGIAR Consortium Senior Information and Knowledge Officer, Enrica Porcari (middle), with CGIAR CEO Lloyd Le Page, at a CGIAR news briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). Lloyd Le Page, chief executive officer of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), is a guest … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Insurance / Kenya / Somalia / Vulnerability
Drought-tolerant crops and crop and livestock insurance can help farmers fight effects of drought in the Horn
‘A partnership between academics and a beer company, which sent sorghum prices soaring in East Africa, has been highlighted as a way of harnessing agricultural research to fight the effects of drought such as the one in the Horn of Africa. . . . ‘The example was highlighted at a press briefing in Nairobi last … Continue reading
Famine spreads into Somalia’s Bay Region–750,000 people now face starvation over next 4 months
A woman holds her severely malnourished young child in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mogadishu (photo on flickr by UN/Stuart Price). August survey results from the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit—Somalia (FSNAU) ‘indicate that the prevalence of acute malnutrition and the rate of crude mortality have surpassed famine thresholds in Bay Region … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Environment / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Presentation / Vulnerability
New presentations on pastoral issues in the Horn of Africa
The following three slide presentations were presented this August (2011) by scientists working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, on topics related to sustaining pastoral production systems in the Horn of Africa. In light of the drought ravaging Kenya’s north and the drylands of other countries of Africa’s Horn, the results … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
Research for resilience: Helping the Horn’s food producers better absorb climate shocks
Lloyd Le Page (left), chief executive officer of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers, and Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, at a news briefing convened by the Consortium at the Nairobi campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on ‘Research options for mitigating drought-induced food crises’ … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
Problems in the Horn of Africa ‘ought not to be’–KARI’s David Mwangi
Consortium media briefing held at ILRI on 1 Sep 2011 on drought in the Horn: Panelists from left to right, Jeff Hill, director of policy in the Bureau of Food Security at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); David Miano Mwangi, assistant director for animal production at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI); … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
East Africa can–and should–help livestock herders cope better with drought
Dasanech nomadic homes near Omorate, in southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink). Cathy Majtenyi of Voice of America reported on meetings in Nairobi this week to look at options for mitigating drought-induced food shortages. They say pastoralism is the best land-use practice in the region’s drylands and are looking at ways to help … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
‘It’s not drought, but vulnerability to drought, that’s eroding food security in the Horn’–USAID’s Jeff Hill
Jeff Hill, Director of Policy at the Bureau of Food Security, at the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), speaks at a news briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Samuel Mungai). Mark Tran reports in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog on yesterday’s meeting of experts on … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
‘The food crisis in the Horn is essentially a livestock crisis’–Lloyd Le Page, CEO of the CGIAR
Voice of America’s Cathy Majtenyi interviews CGIAR CEO Lloyd Le Page at the CGIAR News Briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). Katy Migiro summarizes on Alertnet four ways to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa raised by experts meeting at the opening in Kenya … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 